Alpha Hanson

Alpha Hanson

Alpha Hanson, 104, died of natural causes Dec. 11, at Northern Montana Care Center, in Havre, Mont. Funeral services will be held at Holland & Bonine Funeral Home, at 2:30 p. m., Tuesday, Dec. 18, with burial at Highland Cemetery. Memorial donations may be given to Northern Montana Care Center Chapel Fund, P.O. Box 1231, Havre, MT 59501. Services and arrangements have been entrusted to Holland & Bonine Funeral Home.

Alpha was born May 30, 1908, in Prairie Farm, Wis., to C. K. and Anna Helen Helgeson Hanson. She was the sixth of 10 children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1911, after a fire destroyed their farm home, C.K. Hanson came to Montana and homesteaded at Old Scobey. His family joined him on the homestead in 1912. Alpha and her siblings spoke Norwegian but soon learned English, as they attended country schools in the area. Alpha graduated from Scobey High School in 1925. She attended Concordia College and Moorhead State University — now Minnesota State University — in Moorhead, Minn. Returning to Montana, she taught in rural schools in Sheridan, Roosevelt and Daniels counties. Later Alpha worked as a live-in companion to elderly people. She loved children, and her face always lit up when the family children visited.

She moved to Havre in the 1960s. Her family attributes her long life in part to her love for dandelion greens and rhubarb.

Alpha was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church. She was a devout Christian and a devoted student of the Bible, filling the margins of her Bibles with notes. She loved listening to hymns. She treasured her ties to her extended family and kept in touch with many of her 24 nieces and nephews, all but one of whom survive her.

Alpha was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters; Marian, Gladys, Eleanor, Edna and Kathryn; her brothers; Herman, Carrol, and Vic; and a niece, Betty Fee Waldbauer.

Memorial donations may be given to Northern Montana Care Center Chapel Fund.